Valerius. A Roman Story

  _CHAPTER X._

  Behold me, therefore, in the midst of the Flavian Amphitheatre, andseated, under the wing of the luxurious Rubellia, in a very convenientsituation. There was a general silence in the place, because proclamationhad just been made that the gladiators, with whose combats the exhibitionwas to commence, were about to enter upon the arena, and shew themselvesin order to the people. As yet, however, they had not come forth from thatplace of concealment to which so many of their number would never return;so that I had leisure to collect my thoughts, and survey for a moment,without disturbance, the mighty and most motley multitude, piled above,below, and on every side around me, from the lordly senators, on theirsilken couches, along the parapet of the arena, up to the impenetrablemass of plebeian heads which skirted the horizon, above the topmost wallof the Amphitheatre itself. Such was the enormous crowd of human beings,high and low, that when any motion went through their assembly, the noiseof their rising up or sitting down might be likened to the sullen roaringof the sea, or the rushing of a great night-wind in a forest. Not lessthan eighty thousand human beings, they told me, were here met together.Such a multitude could no where be regarded, without inspiring a certainindefinable sense of majesty; least of all, when congregated within thewide sweep of such a glorious edifice, and surrounded on all sides withevery circumstance of ornament and splendour, befitting an everlastingmonument of Roman victory and imperial munificence. Judge, then, with whateyes all this was surveyed by me, who had but of yesterday emerged from aBritish valley--who had been accustomed all my life to consider as amongthe most impressive of spectacles, the casual passage of a few scores oflegionaries through some dark alley of a wood, or awe-struck village ofbarbarians.

  Trajan himself was already present--his ivory chair distinguished only byits canopy from that of the other Consul who sate over against him; talland majestic in his demeanour; grave, sedate, and benign in countenance,as you have seen in his medals and statues. He was arrayed in a plaingown, and appeared to converse quite familiarly, without affectation ofcondescension, with such Patricians as had their places near him; amongwhom Sextus and Rubellia pointed out many remarkable personages to mynotice; as Adrian, afterwards emperor; Pliny, the orator, a man of courtlypresence, and lively, agreeable aspect; and, above all, the historianTacitus, the worthy son-in-law of our Agricola, in whose pallidcountenance I could easily recognize the depth, but sought in vain todiscover any traces of the sternness of his genius. Of all the then proudnames that were whispered into my ear, could I recollect or repeat themnow, how few would awaken any interest in your minds! Those, indeed, whichI have mentioned, have an interest that will never die. Would that thegreatest and the best of them all were to be remembered only for deeds ofgreatness and goodness!

  The proclamation being repeated a second time, a door on the right hand ofthe arena was laid open, and a single trumpet sounded, as it seemed to me,mournfully, while the gladiators marched in with slow steps, eachman--naked, except being girt with a cloth about his loins--bearing on hisleft arm a small buckler, and having a short straight sword suspended by acord around his neck. They marched, as I have said, slowly and steadily;so that the whole assembly had full leisure to contemplate the forms ofthe men; while those skilled in such business were fixing, in their ownminds, on such as they thought most likely to be victorious, and layingwagers concerning their chances of success, with as much unconcern as ifthey had been contemplating irrational animals, or rather, indeed, Ishould say, so many pieces of ingenious mechanism. The diversity ofcomplexion and feature exhibited among these devoted athletes, afforded atonce a majestic idea of the extent of the empire, and a terrible one ofthe purposes to which that wide sway had often been made subservient. Thebeautiful Greek, with a countenance of noble serenity, and limbs afterwhich the sculptors of his country might have modelled their symbols ofgraceful power, walked side by side with the yellow-bearded savage, whosegigantic muscles had been nerved in the freezing waves of the Elbe orIster, or whose thick strong hair was congealed and shagged on his browwith the breath of Scythian or Scandinavian winters. Many fierce Moors andArabs, and curled Ethiopians, were there, with the beams of the southernsun burnt in every various shade of swarthiness upon their skins. Nor didour own remote island want her representatives in the deadly procession,for I saw among the armed multitude--not surely without some feelings ofmore peculiar interest--two or three gaunt barbarians, whose breasts andshoulders bore uncouth marks of blue and purple, so vivid in the tints,that I thought many months could not have elapsed since they must havebeen wandering in wild freedom along the native ridges of some Silurian orCaledonian forest. As they moved around the arena, some of these men weresaluted by the whole multitude with noisy acclamations, in token, Isuppose, of the approbation wherewith the feats of some former festivalhad deserved to be remembered. On the appearance of others, groans andhisses were heard from some parts of the Amphitheatre, mixed withcontending cheers and huzzas from others of the spectators. But by far thegreater part were suffered to pass on in silence;--this being in alllikelihood the first--who could tell whether it might not also be the lastday of their sharing in that fearful exhibition!

  Their masters paired them shortly, and in succession they began to makeproof of their fatal skill. At first, Scythian was matched againstScythian--Greek against Greek--Ethiopian against Ethiopian--Spaniard againstSpaniard; and I saw the sand dyed beneath their feet with blood streamingfrom the wounds of kindred hands. But these combats, although abundantlybloody and terrible, were regarded only as preludes to the seriousbusiness of the day, which consisted of duels between Europeans on the oneside, and Africans on the other; wherein it was the well-nighintransgressible law of the Amphitheatre, that at least one out of everypair of combatants should die. Instead of shrinking from these moredesperate brutalities, the almost certainty of their termination seemedonly to make the assembly gaze on them with a more intense curiosity anddelight. Methinks I feel as if it were but of yesterday, when,--sickenedwith the protracted terrors of a conflict, that seemed as if it were neverto have an end, although both the combatants were already covered all overwith hideous gashes,--I at last bowed down my head, and clasped my handsupon my eyes. I had scarcely done so, when Rubellia laid her hand upon myelbow, whispering, "Look, look, now look," in a voice of low, steadyimpatience. I did look, but not to the arena: No; it was upon thebeautiful features of that woman's face that I looked, and truly it seemedto me as if they presented a spectacle almost as fearful. I saw those richlips parted, those dark eyes extended, those smooth cheeks suffused with asteadfast blush, that lovely bosom swelled and glowing; and I hatedRubellia, for I knew not before how utterly beauty can be brutalized bythe throbbings of a cruel heart. But I looked round to escape from thesight of her;--and the hundreds of females that I saw fixed with equalearnestness on the same horrors, taught me, even at the moment, to thinkwith more charity of that pitiless gaze of one.

  At that instant all were silent in contemplation of the breathless strife;insomuch, that a groan, the first that had escaped from either of thecombatants, although low and suppressed, sounded distinctly amidst thedeep hush, and being constrained to turn once more downwards, I beheldthat, at length, one of the two had received the sword of his adversaryquite through his body, and had sunk upon the sand. A beautiful young manwas he that had received this harm, with fair hair, clustered in glossyringlets upon his neck and brows; but the sickness of his wound wasalready visible on his drooping eye-lids, and his lips were pale, as ifthe blood had rushed from them to the untimely outlet. Nevertheless, theMoorish gladiator who had fought with him had drawn forth again hisweapon, and stood there awaiting in silence the decision, whether at onceto slay the defenceless youth, or to assist in removing him from thearena, if perchance the blood might be stopped from flowing, and some hopeof recovery even yet extended. There arose, on the instant, a loud voiceof contention; and it seemed to me as if the wounded man regarded themultitude with a proud, contemptuou
s glance, being aware, withoutquestion, that he had executed all things so as to deserve theircompassion, but aware, moreover, that even had that been freely vouchsafedto him, it was too late. But the cruelty of their faces, it may be, andthe loudness of their cries, were a sorrow to him, and filled his dyingbreast with loathing. Whether or not the haughtiness of his countenancehad been observed by them with displeasure, I cannot say; but those whohad cried out to give him a chance of recovery, were speedily silent, andCaesar looking round, and seeing all the thumbs turned downwards, wasconstrained to give the sign, and forthwith the young man, receiving againwithout a struggle the sword of the Moor into his gashed bosom, breathedforth his life, and lay stretched out in his blood upon the place ofguilt. With that a joyous clamour was uplifted by many of those thatlooked upon it, and the victorious Moor, being crowned with an ivygarland, was carried in procession around the arena by certain young men,who leaped down for that purpose from the midst of the assembly. In themeantime, those that had the care of such things, dragged away, with afilthy hook, the corpse of him that had been slain; and then, raking upthe sand over the blood that had fallen from him, prepared the place, withindifferent countenances, for some other tragedy,--while all around me, thespectators were seen rising from their places, and saluting each other;and there was a buzz of talking as universal as the silence had beenduring the combat; some speaking of this thrust and that ward, and payingand receiving money lost and won; some already discoursing of othermatters, as if nothing uncommon had been witnessed; while others, again,appeared to be entirely occupied with the martial music which ever struckup majestically at such pauses, beating time upon the benches before them,or joining their voices with the proud notes of the trumpets and clarions.Rubellia talked gaily with Sextus, inviting him to ridicule me with her,for the strangeness of behaviour I had displayed.

  The sun, by this, had already mounted high in the heavens, and the glarebecame so intolerable, that men could no longer fight on equal terms;which being perceived, Caesar gave command to look after the wild beasts,and, in the meantime, (for I heard his voice distinctly,) to give warningto the Flamens that they should have their altar set forth.